Charlie Morton didn't pitch especially well tonight, allowing nine hits in 4.1 innings and giving up five runs in the process. The Pirates scored four runs of their own in the third and fourth, though, so that even when Morton gave up his fourth and fifth runs in the fifth, they had a chance to get back in the game. Chris Leroux pitched 2.2 scoreless innings of relief, striking out three. Unfortunately, Tony Watson then came on in the eighth and allowed a three-run bomb to Matt Holliday. Game over, pretty much - the Pirates lost, 8-4.
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Dejan Kovacevic commented during his chat earlier today (and David was talking about this on Twitter later) that he didn't think Ronny Cedeno would be back for the Pirates next season, which surprised me - I thought Cedeno's return was pretty much a no-brainer. Cedeno might play like a bit of a no-brainer himself, so he can be a frustrating guy to have around, but he isn't going to cost much next year ($3 million, minus a $200,000 buyout), and he's played very good defense - he's far better with the glove than Brandon Wood or Chase D'Arnaud. So I'm curious to see what the Pirates might do if he's not going to be around. The list of free agent shortstops isn't exactly mouth-watering.
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The Bucs are trying to get Pedro Alvarez to play Winter ball, which of course makes a lot of sense.